Meat hauling body construction



Nov. 23, 1965 J. MICHEL MEAT HAULING BODY CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed April 4, 1963 nnnnnnnnnnnfi INVENTOR. 9,, M /c H5 .4.

Nov. 23, 1965 J. MICHEL MEAT HAULING BODY CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed April 4, 1965 I z I x z I 1 I I I I r 1 l INVENTOR. fisznw /VlICHEL.

United States Patent Office 3,218,987 Patented Nov. 23, 1965 3,218,987MEAT HAULING BODY CONSTRUCTION Joseph Michel, Hazleton, Pa., assignor toHighway Trailer Industries, Inc., Edgertou, Wis., a corporation ofDelaware Filed Apr. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 270,718 Claims. (Cl. 10498) Thisinvention relates to meat hauling body construction, and moreparticularly to the portion of the body which is devoted to supporting arolling meat beam thereon, said meat beam being adapted to support largequantities of meat in the known manner as by meat hooks suspendedtherefrom.

Even more particularly this invention relates to the manner of mountingthe meat beam in' the body so that greater loads of meat may besuspended therefrom and the meat moved in and out on the beam, that isfore and aft in the body, whereby the meat may be made'accessible assuccessive deliveries are made thereof.

In the usual meat hauling body, a series of beams is usually provided,mounted near the upper portions of the side walls and just beneath thetop thereof, whereby meat in large pieces may be suspended therefrom bymeat hooks impaled in the said meat, this necessitating the positioningof the meat on the rails by main force and obviously requiring asubstantial amount of handling which is obviated by the concept herein.

Generally speaking, the invention hereof comprises a rolling meat beam,mounted in a somewhat conventional manner but particularly arranged tomove fore and aft in the body and when large quantities of meat aresuspended therefrom as may be the case in the instance of severalhundreds of pounds, it has been found that the meat beam may becomeangularly disposed and thus actually in such a condition that the beambecomes impossible to move without resorting to special tools toposition the same or to other means which'would not normally beavailable.

It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide arolling meat beam which will be maintained at constantly positionedright angle to the longitudinal disposition of the body, whereby themeat beam cannot be come cocked in such a manner as to become immovable,but on the other hand will always be easily moved irrespective of thequantity of meat suspended therefrom.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a meat beam ofsimple and yet very strong construction which will support the largequantities of meat therefrom, be easily rolled back and forth in thebody, and arranged so that the beam will always remain at orsufl'iciently near right angles to its longitudinal direction ofmovement that it will not become wedged in such a manner as to becomeimmovable.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a rolling meatbeam which is equipped with suitable rollers at each end thereof tosupport the same, these rollers moving in or on suitable longitudinalrails provided therefor, additional rollers being provided at rightangles to the rollers first described so that they may act as guiderollers, operating in a guide rail likewise extending longitudinally, sothat the beam will remain at or very nearly right angles to thedirection of movement and thus prevent its becoming difficult to bemoved.

Other and further objects of the invention will be understood from aconsideration of the specification appended hereto and disclosed in thedrawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a rear elevational view showing the meat beam of thisinvention installed in a somewhat conventional body.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view through the body,showing the beam and greater details thereof. 1

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional View taken about on the line 3-3 ofFIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal sectional view, fragmentary in nature, takenabout on the line 44 of FIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the body generally denoted 1 hereof ismounted on the usual truck chassis 2 supported by dual rear wheels suchas 3, the usual axle 4 being provided therefor and the body beingmounted on the springs 5 as is Well known.

The body 1 is provided with the upstanding generally parallel sides 6and 7, which are in turn connected at their upper ends by a top 8 whichis coextensive with the sides and in general similar to the well knowntype of truck body.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, which shows a fragmen- ,tary sectional viewand more particularly the portions of the meat beam to which thisinvention is directed, the meat beam is shown as generally designated at9, this being comprised of a T-shaped member extending transverselyhaving the vertical body portion 10 and the transverse flange 11integral therewith, the body portion 10 being in turn connected at itslower extremity with a tubular member 12, as by welding at 13 in agenerally conventional manner.

At opposite ends of the T-shaped member, are suitable mounting parts ofwhat may be termed generally triangular configuration indicated at 14including a body portion 15 with flanges 15a provided to effectstiffening and the member 14 as a whole being suitably fastened at eachend, as indicated in FIGURE 2.

The mounting parts 14 are equipped with suitable rollers 16, these beingprovided in pairs, as indicated in FIGURE 4 and fastened to the mountingparts in any well known manner as by axle portions thereof which areequipped with nuts such as 18 the rollers 16 being mounted on shaftswhich may be fastened as indicated in the various figures by the nuts18.

The rollers 16 are intended to be supported on longitudinal supportrails 19, these being fastened at their lower extremities as indicatedin FIGURE 2 by the flange portions 20 thereof, the upper portions beingequipped with inturned flanges 21 fastened to the top 8 in any preferredmanner.

It will be apparent that the longitudinal support rails 19 arepreferably extrusions and for convenience may be of the form hereindisclosed, which provide track portions at 22 to support the rollers 16thereon.

In order to position the beam unit 9 with respect to the longitudinaldisposition desired, suitable bolts 24 may be provided, these having endportions 25 adapted to enter suitable openings 26 formed in thelongitudinal rails 19, and the bolts further being equipped with handles27 by which the bolts may be manipulated with suitable lock or stopmembers 28 being provided to maintain the bolts in position inengagement with the openings 26 which are desired to be availed of forpositioning the beam in its longitudinal relationship. It will beapparent that by suitable manipulation of the handles 27 such as isindicated by FIGURE 4, the bolts may be moved inwardly and outwardly soas to effect the locating operation and likewise be locked in positionin either location so that they are susceptible of functioning in themanner desired.

It should be pointed out that the web 10 of the T member is equippedwith suitable openings 30 which are adapted to receive the hook portionsof meat books which will normally rest or be suspended on the tubularmembers 12, a number of these openings 30 being provided along thetubular member 12 so that a number of the books may be carried therebyand obviously the meat suspended therefrom.

Without more, the beam unit 9 hereinbefore described generally, wouldnormally move fore and aft on the support rails 19 but often times wouldbecome cocked or wedged so that it cannot be moved at all irrespectiveof the amount of force used therefor without special tools to free thesame for such movement.

Therefore the unit hereof is provided with suitable guideinstrumentalities or means which are arranged in the form oflongitudinally positioned guide rollers 31 being provided in pairs atthe opposite ends of the beam unit, these rollers 31 being supported inoflstanding arm members 32 suitably secured to the upper flange 11 ofthe T member 9 as by welding indicated at 33 and 34 or similarlyfastened as will best suit the arrangement.

These guide rollers 31 are in turn fastened to the members 32 bysuitable nut members 35 in a manner similar to the manner in which therollers 16 are fixed to the mounting parts 14 and in turn arranged toslidingly engage in longitudinal guide rails 36, being provided in pairsand sufficiently near the ends of the beam unit 9 so that a guidingeffect is obtained under the most difiicult circumstances which would bethose tending to cock or cause the beam to assume an angular dispositionwith respect to the longitudinal direction of movement other than 90degrees.

In view of the foregoing it will be seen that these guide rollers 31 andthe guide rails 36 in which they move, will effectively prevent anydistortion of the beam unit which would prevent further movement as haspreviously been suggested and thus the purpose of the invention has beenand is accomplished thereby.

I claim:

1. In body construction of the class described, in combination, a bodyincluding spaced sides, a top co-extensive therewith and extendingtherebetween, a meat beam unit extending between the sides for movementlongitudinally thereof, support means comprising members extending alongand connected to the sides, support parts at the ends on the unitengaging the unit to facilitate the movement aforesaid, parallel andcoplanar guide means connected to and extending longitudinally of thebody, and guide parts on opposite sides of and rigidly fixed to the beamnear the ends engaging the guide means aforesaid to maintain the unit atright angles to its path of travel.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide meanscomprise a pair of rails extending longitudinally of the top and spacedinwardly of the ends of the unit, and the guide parts include rollersmounted on the beam unit in engagement with the rails.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein the beam unit consistsof a transverse T-shaped member, a tubular support is fixed thereto atthe lower portion thereof, mounting parts are fixed at opposite ends ofthe T-shaped member, the support parts comprise pairs of rollers on themounting part, and the guide means consist of pairs of longitudinallyspaced guide rollers fixed to the T-shaped member and guide rails fixedto the top, said guide rollers being movable therein when the beam unitis moved along the members extending along the sides.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3, wherein means consisting ofbolts engageable with suitable openings in the rails are provided toposition the beam unit along the side members in a plurality oflongitudinal positions.

5. In body construction of the class described, in combination, a bodyincluding spaced sides, a top co-extensive therewith and extendingtherebetween, a meat beam unit extending between the sides for movementlongitudinally thereof, support means comprising members extending alongand connected to the sides, support parts at the ends on the unitengaging the unit to facilitate the movement aforesaid, guide meansconnected to and extending longitudinally of the body, and guide partsrigidly fixed to the beam near the ends thereof and spaced a substantialdistance from the longitudinal axis of the beam unit and engaging theguide means aforesaid to maintain the unit at right angles to its pathof travel, the members extending along the sides comprising rails fixedto the sides and top, and the support parts consisting of rollersmovable along track portions intermediate the connections of the railswith the sides and top.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,758,580 5/1930Moore -163 1,869,421 8/1932 Harris 104-98 2,215,427 9/1940 Nelles 104982,556,503 6/1951 Nelson 104-1 2,601,831 7/1952 Caillard 104-50 2,752,8647/1956 McDougal et al 105376 2,833,588 5/1958 Black 105-37 X MILTONBUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner.

1. IN BODY CONSTRUCTION OF THE CLASS DESCRIBED, IN COMBINATION, A BODYINCLUDING SPACED SIDES, A TOP CO-EXTENSIVE THEREWITH AND EXTENDINGTHEREBETWEEN, A MEAT BEAM UNIT EXTENDING BETWEEN THE SIDES FOR MOVEMENTLONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, SUPPORT MEANS COMPRISING MEMBERS EXTENDING ALONGSAID CONNECTED TO THE SIDES, SUPPORT PARTS AT THE ENDS ON THE UNITENGAGING THE UNIT TO FACILITATE THE MOVEMENT AFORESAID, PARALLEL ANDCOPLANAR GUIDE MEANS CONNECTED TO AND EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THEBODY,